


you’re part of the past but now you’re the future // doesn’t matter ‘cause it’s enough to be young and in love

by KaterinaRiley



Series: Soulmates, Soul Words, Soulless, Soul Marked [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Finds Out Lance Died, Hunk Finds Out Lance Died, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Langst, M/M, POV Lance (Voltron), Post-Episode: s06e01 Omega Shield, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Shiro Finds Out Lance Died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:00:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21781843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaterinaRiley/pseuds/KaterinaRiley
Summary: Lance and Keith take the next step in their relationship...which is tellingothersthat they're in a relationship, that they'reSoulmates! It's a big step, especially for Lance, who not even 24 hours ago was certain he was Soulless, destined for heartbreak and solitude. It's a big step, but he knows he can tell his team, his space family, and with Keith by his side, that step isn't really all that scary.Unfortunately, he doesn't have much of a choice in the step after that one.--However, as soon as they stepped foot into the kitchen, lit by the early morning sun, everything suddenly felt more real. More solid. The worry in Lance’s mind eased, especially as he felt Keith breathe a sigh of relief and squeeze his hand, as if reassuring himself that this still wasn’t a dream. His other hand moved up to wrap itself around Lance’s arm and he leaned into him, resting his head on Lance’s shoulder—he was much clingier than Lance didn’t allow himself to imagine.He liked it.“You want buttermilk?” he asked, opening the cabinet with his free arm.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Soulmates, Soul Words, Soulless, Soul Marked [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522304
Comments: 131
Kudos: 623





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Lana Del Ray’s song Love and yes, I did skip a few verses while putting this together :p
> 
> Also, warning, I’m picking right off where installment 2 left off, so if you’re confused, you might want to read the first two parts of this first,,
> 
> ~~sorry for taking so long to get this done, I had shit to do and my time to write went dooooown :(~~
> 
> Also, I would like to clarify something about this universe: Soul Words have to be spoken in person and directly to the individual. That’s why in the first installment, Keith and Lance said each other’s last Words and then were still able to have a video chat later on. It’s because they weren’t actually in each others’ presence. If you were confused by that, hope this cleared things up! :)

_My Soulmate._

Lance shuddered. He didn’t think he could ever get used to hearing Keith say that, but oh, how he really, really wanted to. Soulmate. _Soulmate_. Keith’s Soulmate. Last night wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t a figment of his imagination, about to slip through his fingers like sand at any moment. It was real, so very, very _real_.

…As real as the stomach that just growled.

“S-Sorry,“ Keith stuttered, looking delightfully bashful with his long eyelashes and red cheeks. “I didn’t really eat much last night. Too much on my mind…”

He’d eaten a plateful, Lance remembered, but it had taken nearly the entire two hours to finish it, where everyone else’s plates had been cleared twice, thrice, or in Shiro’s case, four times over. At the time, he had dismissed it, unwilling (too afraid) to let his mind wonder, questioning why Keith had apparently not enjoyed the food or the (his?) company.

“Would you like some pancakes?” he asked quietly.

Was it too soon to invite Keith to a breakfast date?Would it even _be_ a breakfast date? It would certainly be breakfast, but a _date_? Was “too soon” not a worry to even have when it came to Soulmates? Was “too soon” a worry _to have_ when it came to Keith? They didn’t have the best track record…

“Yeah, I’d really like that,” Keith whispered, stopping Lance’s thoughts with a blinding smile and a gentle caress of his jaw.

It made Lance’s breath catch and his heart skip a beat. He’d always wanted Keith to look at him like that, to touch him like that…and now he _was_. He was and he _wanted_ to. Even when he thought Lance had been Soulless, when he thought he’d been Marked to be destined for Lance, but not Lance destined for him, Keith had _still_ wanted him.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, as if afraid of bursting the bubble they’d made around themselves, afraid of ruining the illusion and making the world turn back into a dream, they left the couch. They stayed lingering around each other, their hands intertwined and their arms and legs pressed closely together. Hesitantly, they walked towards the kitchen, synchronized yet cautious, as if a too-sudden movement might break the illusion...or their necks.

However, as soon as they stepped foot into the kitchen, lit by the early morning sun, everything suddenly felt more real. More solid. The worry in Lance’s mind eased, especially as he felt Keith breathe a sigh of relief and squeeze his hand, as if reassuring himself that this still wasn’t a dream. His other hand moved up to wrap itself around Lance’s arm and he leaned into him, resting his head on Lance’s shoulder—he was much clingier than Lance didn’t allow himself to imagine.

He liked it.

“You want buttermilk?” he asked, opening the cabinet with his free arm.

Pancakes should only be made from scratch and, being one of his favorite American breakfast foods, Lance always made sure was fully stocked on the basics for any late-night or early-morning or mid-afternoon pancake emergency.

“Or something fruity? I’ve got blueberries and strawberries.”

Keith made a noncommittal noise, so Lance opened another cupboard. It was only a bit difficult considering Keith the Octopus was still attached to his other arm, but as soon as he saw the contents, he wanted to smack himself. Keith the Massive Sweet-Tooth Octopus would much rather have _these_ add-ons.

“How about chocolate chip?” He rummaged through the items. “I’ve got some cinnamon and nutmeg, if you want something Christmas-y. Or I can do something more Halloween-y and make pumpkin spice pancakes. Oh, I’ve lots of sprinkles and nonpareils.”

Keith hummed thoughtfully before asking, his voice low and hopeful and so undeniably precious, “Chocolate chips _and_ sprinkles? But not the ball sprinkles.”

Lance couldn’t hold back his grin. “Yeah, I can do that. Chocolate-chip-and-sprinkle pancakes, hold the nonpareils, coming right up!”

Taking advantage of having a second set of arms at the ready to hold items, Lance immediately started grabbing the ingredients, handing them over to Keith, as well as a large bowl. He missed having his heat pressed against him, but making Keith pancakes kept everything feeling just as real as when they’d been holding each other. Besides, Keith went right back to holding onto him as soon as the items were out of his arms.

As they passed the sink, Lance eyed the unwashed, forgotten dishes with a slight frown—he didn’t get to finish cleaning them all from last night’s dinner—but ultimately ignored them. He added ‘ _Buy an actual dishwasher_ ’ to his mental list of things to do. Then he immediately mentally scratched it out because hadn’t Keith asked him to go out to space with him last night?

_“Then come with me...Come see the stars with me. And swim in the galactic oceans."_

Now wasn’t that the dream? When he was younger, it _had_ been his dream: To explore the stars, finding new planets with vast oceans to swim in and look up at a new night sky with new constellations and new life. To reach over and grasp his Soulmate’s hand as they floated in the waters, surrounded by the reflection of the stars.

But there wasn’t much time to do any of that during a war—an external war with Zarkon and his followers, who wanted to expand their murderous empire until there wasn’t a star that hadn’t been touched by their bloody claws; an internal war with himself, where he constantly wavered between wanting to fight for his Soulmate’s love and wanting to give up and give in and close his eyes forever. The idea of swimming in an ocean, looking up at the night sky, holding hands with Keith had been absolutely laughable back then. It had been an impossible nightmare—a fairy tale that could only end in horror.

Except it wasn’t so laughable now. It’s wasn’t an impossible nightmare or horrific fairy tale. It was within his reach. It was clinging to his arm and pressing chaste kisses to his shoulder.

He _could_ go see the stars with Keith and swim in the galactic oceans.

But…

_“This is all… I mean, I never thought this would happen...and now…now everything's happening so fast…"_

He meant what he said last night. This was all happening so fast, so unexpectedly, and he needed more time. Time to think, to process everything. Mentally, he unscratched out ‘ _Buy dishwasher’_ and instead put a mental question mark next to it.

“You okay?”

Lance jumped, almost ( _almost_ ) forgetting that Keith was next to him, but the tension leaked out of his shoulders within seconds—Keith had moved behind him, chin resting atop his shoulder and arms wrapped around his waist, and though he would’ve never in a thousand years thought this would happen to him, his body immediately relaxed to the touch. He surrendered to the warmth of Keith’s chest and the strength of his arms.

“I’m perfect,” he admitted, and the feeling of speaking with such honestly for the first time in a very, very long time washed over him in a rush, nearly taking his breath away.

Speaking the truth and knowing it was good was _exhilarating_.

As he mixed the ingredients together, leaning more and more into the embrace until it was as though they were one body, not two, he replayed Keith’s words from last night over and over again in his head.

_“I love you too...My Soulmate...I didn’t want you to wake up and see me gone...I want to kiss you...There's no one that could be better than you, Lance...Come with me...I’ll wait however long I have to for you...I really wanted to convince you to give us a try...I'm not going anywhere without you by my side, my Soulmate..."_

This had to be real. It _had_ to be.

“Lance, I think it’s all good and mixed now,” Keith whispered, his voice gently dissolving Lance’s thoughts with an amused chuckle.

“Oh! R-Right…”

Trying to shake out his thoughts without shaking off Keith, Lance prepared the pan and stovetop for the first glob of batter. He had all the time in the world to process and remember last night, but not now, when he could burn Keith’s pancakes.

 _Needs to be perfect_ , he thought absentmindedly. _If I can’t even cook some stupidly simple pancakes for Keith, then there’s no way he’ll stay—_

 _Shit, no, **stop**. _He bit his lip, hard, and took a second to squeeze his eyes shut. _Keith literally poured his heart out to you yesterday. He said he’s stay on earth for you, he’d wait however long for you. He’s not going to leave because you burn some pancakes._

Still, when he scooped up the second glob of batter, he was careful to make a perfect circle. He flipped it over, proud of how perfectly sun-kissed the pancake looked.

“Hmmm...smells really good,” Keith mumbled nuzzling into his neck, sending a shiver, a good shiver, down his spine. “You’re a really good cook…”

“Yeah? Better than Hunk?” he asked, already knowing the answer, but unable to stop the light teasing from passing his lips.

As he poured the third glob of batter onto the pan, he felt Keith scrunch his nose.

“Well… I mean, you’re both good in your own right.”

Lance giggled. “What does that even mean?”

“It means,” he took another deep breath, and Lance wasn’t sure if Keith was trying to smell the pancakes or Lance himself—he hoped it was the former because he hadn’t taken his morning shower yet and he definitely did _not_ want to know what he smelled like. “It means these pancakes smell really good and I want to post them on Instagram.”

Lance gasped. “You mean you kept that profile I made you? I thought you deleted it!”

“...I didn’t know how,” he grumbled against his neck.

Lance laughed again, his entire body shaking from mirth, causing the fourth pancake to be more of a splatter instead of a circle.

Before he could think of anything about the shape, anything either self-deprecating or self-chastising, he felt Keith’s arms squeeze his middle tightly and a pair of lips graze against his neck.

Could Keith tell what thoughts had (almost) crossed his mind? Was it pure coincidence that he knew to chase away the thoughts with a hug and kiss?

“Plus, I got a lot of followers,” Keith continued, nothing in his voice hinting at knowing what Lance’s inner voice had been about to tell him. “And Pidge said if I try to delete it now there’s going to be a huge uproar that I don’t want to deal with.”

“Pidge is absolutely right,” Lance agreed. “You do _not_ want to deal with the wrath of angry fans. Twitter’s even worse.”

Once again, he leaned into Keith’s embrace, focusing on that, on its tangibility, it’s _realness_ , rather than letting his mind wonder. It was why he couldn’t seem to believe Keith last night. His brain would wonder, coming up with rebuttal after rebuttal after rebuttal, barely giving him a second to believe Keith...up until: 

_“You can take your time. I’ll wait however long it’s takes.”_

_(Really?)_

_“ **Absolutely**._”

And then his brain finally, _finally_ shut up. It had been stunned into silence, blissful silence.

 **Truth** , his heart whispered as it beat frantically in his chest. Keith was telling the **truth truth truth**. Keith would wait for Lance, would be _patient_ , for Lance—a feat he could never fully master even as the Black Paladin, but he would for _Lance_. For his comfort, his ease, his soul. Keith would wait.

**truth truth truth**

_And then_ , as if Keith couldn’t be anymore unreal, he’d brought out a piece of paper covered in black ink from top to bottom, front to back. It wasn’t just a speech Keith hadn’t gotten the chance to say; no, it was a love letter, an honest-to-quiznak _love letter_ , where Keith poured out his heart, outlining every detail of his love, all to _Lance_.

As he read (devoured) each word, his pulse had beat faster and faster—he could feel it from his neck to his fingertips, from his chest to his toes. He wanted to have the words tattooed on his very essence, so he could take them with him everywhere for the rest of his life.

Keith wrote about how he’d thought of Lance _every day_ after leaving to join the Blade, how he’d actually had a _crush_ on him ever since the Bonding Moment—and yes, Keith capitalized ‘Bonding Moment’ and also yes, Lance had found it so incredibly endearing. He wrote about gaining his new Soul Words and how he’d find himself wondering, wishing, dreaming of Lance being his Soulmate. That thought had him so terrified for so many reasons that when he came back from the Quantum Abyss, instead of confronting what was going on in his head and on his wrist, he’d shoved everything so far down his being, ignoring them and, consequently, ignoring Lance.

 _But I was wrong,_ Keith wrote. _I was so, so wrong. I shouldn’t have done it; all it did was hurt you, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I don’t want you to hurt, Lance. I never want you to hurt, especially not because of me._

It almost felt like being in Blue for the first time all over again—surprising, terrifying, exhilarating, other-worldly.

(Well, Keith _was_ other-worldly...he was half alien, after all.)

“Okay,” Lance said with a smile, scooping out as much of the leftover batter to make the fifth and final pancake. “These are almost done so go get your phone and I’ll help you with that selfie.”

A snort released from the back of Keith’s throat.

“Who said anything about a selfie?”

Lance knew a bait when he saw one—after all, he and Keith were pros at bickering with each other, even if it hadn’t always been the healthiest of bickering in the beginning.

He let his voice go loud, let himself be overdramatic, as he responded, “I’m not just going to stand here and let you take a photo of my pancakes without you in them!”

Keith hummed. “Maybe the cute chef should be in it instead.”

“The cute—?!”

Lance snapped his jaw shut. He opened it. Closed it. Opened it.

Keith giggled.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asked, kissing Lance’s neck, probably able to feel the heat of his blush.

“J-Just—!” How did words work again? “Just go get your phone, you—you sap!”

Not the insult he wanted to say, but it was the best he could do given the circumstances.

“Hmmm, but I don’t want to let you go…” Keith said, his voice a low whine.

That little shit knew exactly what he was doing.

Could Keith feel the stuttering in his heart from the words? Could he feel Lance’s blush heat up even more?

“I-I’m not going anywhere,” he stammered out, unable to keep up the banter. “Just to the table.”

After another squeeze, Keith released him, but he didn’t leave yet. Lance turned in his arms and raised an eyebrow, silently asking what Keith was about to say next. It seemed important, from the way he was looking at him. I made Lance’s heart flutter.

“I’m not going anywhere either,” he finally whispered, so sincere and _earnest_.

Lance’s heart fluttered again, this time accompanied with a shiver. Slowly, Keith’s hand came up to his face, the other still resting loosely on his hip.

“I mean it,” he said, putting a force behind his voice that had Lance melting. “I’m not going anywhere. Not without you.”

He leaned forward and Lance’s breath caught in his throat as he realized Keith was about to kiss him again.

It was much more chaste than he expected, but it wasn’t any less passionate compared to earlier.

With a final squeeze of Lance’s hip, Keith finally stepped back. As he headed to the living room to search for his phone, Lance forced his head to turn back to the stovetop, away from Keith’s retreating figure and swaying hips. Did he know how fucking good his ass looked in those jeans? He had too because there was no way his perky, bubbly ass was just bouncing naturally like tha— _shit_!

With a sigh, Lance threw away the last pancake. He’d burned it. Quickly, he opened the fridge to grab the syrup, forcing himself to keep his mind blank.

 _It’s just a pancake_ , he reminded himself. _Not the end of the world. Just a pancake. Just a stupid, burnt, little—_

 ** _Coffee_**.

No sugar-crazed, adrenaline-junkie adult could have breakfast without coffee. Lance quickly busied himself with making a fresh pot, carefully thinking of not-thinking. Hell, he needed a cup, or three, too.

By the time Keith sat at the table, his pancakes were thoroughly drowned in syrup while a cup of coffee with enough cream and sugar to rot someone’s teeth sat beside them...and there was a slight scowl on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked, shoving down the dread of _Not good enough, you fucked up, not. good. enough_ from pushing past his lips.

“My phone’s dead,” Keith explained, grumbling. “And I didn’t bring my charger.”

_His phone’s dead. See? Nothing to do with you, calm your fucking tits, Lance._

“Oh, that’s all right. I have some chargers around here somewhere.”

Before Lance could walk away to start rummaging through his things, Keith grabbed his arm and pulled him down. Stumbling, he collapsed into Keith’s lap and was immediately wrapped up in his arms. With his settled snuggly around Lance’s waist, Keith buried his head into Lance’s shoulder.

“You don’t need to leave _now_ ,” he said, the words coming as a soft wine. “Besides, I already took your charger.”

“O-Oh... Um, okay...”

Had he left his charger out? Or did Keith already know where it was? Other than the very first dinner they’d had at Hunk’s place, Keith had missed all the monthly team dinners except for the ones Lance hosted. Granted, this had only been the second time, but how could Keith have known where Lance put his stuff? Maybe he was just that predictable? Or did Keith know Lance better than he’d thought?

…This definitely wasn’t something he was supposed to be overthinking about, was it?

Carefully, Lance relaxed, raising his hand up to awkwardly (but purposefully) pet Keith’s hair. He seemed to really like it when Lance scratched at the spot right behind his ears, if his low moan said anything about it.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, content and warm and safe in each other’s embrace, until Lance finally reminded, his voice soft, “Keith, your pancakes are getting cold…”

He made a noise of disapproval, though Lance wasn’t sure if it was because of his cold pancakes or because Lance would have to move off him.

Maybe both.

“Fine,” he sighed, drawing out the word as he squeezed Lance once more.

Reluctantly, he released his grip on Lance, and Lance reluctantly slid into the chair beside him, but it was worth it to watch Keith digging into the pancakes and then looking like a kid on the first day of summer from his first bite. By his fourth, he was looking at Lance with a frown.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

He shrugged. “Not really.”

In all honestly, he was perfectly content to watch Keith enjoy himself. He was never much of a morning eater (breakfast for dinner was always the best course of action) and his coffee was truly all he needed.

Besides, if he ate anything now, he was half-afraid of throwing it up, his stomach still churning worriedly at times, and half-afraid of it turning into dust in his mouth, proving that this was only a dream.

Keith merely gave him a Look, one that said he disapproved of Lance’s answer. With a strange vigor, he cut another portion of his pancakes and offered them to Lance on his fork.

“No, seriously, I’m—”

“Don’t care, open up.”

Well fuck. Now, Lance was torn between protesting about not being a child that needed to be babied…or swooning at the paradoxically tender command Keith had given him.

How did that one meme go? Ah yes—Not now gay thoughts.

After a moment, Lance settled on grumbling out, “I’m not a child you know,” before opening his mouth and accepting the pancakes.

Oh god.

The eye contact.

Why the hell did Lance think this was a good idea?

Keith’s purple eyes were boring in him, his own blue eyes boring into Keith’s, as he opened his mouth, allowing Keith to gentle feed him. Even as he closed his lips around the fork, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Keith’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he pulled the fork back, the prongs pressed on Lance’s tongue slowly emerged from his puckered mouth, and he licked his lips, staring at Lance’s. Lance stared back at Keith’s lips, trying not to unconsciously mirror the action and lick his own.

Finally, he swallowed.

“Gah, that’s too sweet,” he complained, voice high and stomach squirming, as he smacked his mouth a few times.

Why was he like this?

“Y-You’re the one who put the syrup on,” Keith reminded, rolling his eyes. His shaking voice and blushing cheeks decreased the intensity of his words.

But the moment—whatever it was—was over and this time, it was Lance’s turn to give Keith a Look.

“So, what I’m hearing is, next time, I _shouldn’t_ indulge in your sweet tooth?”

“I definitely did not say that,” Keith quickly backtracked. He pulled his pancakes a little closer to himself, as if to protect them.

Lance laughed.

“H-How’d you even know?” he asked, taking another bite.

“Know what?”

Keith blushed again. “About my sweet tooth?”

Lance had to hold in another laugh. “You’re asking how I knew that Keith ‘my coffee must be as pale as my complexion’ and ‘this entire cart full of Halloween candy is all for me’ Kogane has a massive sweet tooth?”

“Uh.” Keith blinked owlishly, his mouth parting slightly. “Okay, well, when you put it like _that_...”

He laughed again, trying and failing to hide behind his hands.

Soon, they fell into contented silence with Lance slowly sipping his coffee as Keith polished off his plate and downed his own much sweeter coffee. Then, without a word, Keith took his plate and cup and walked to the sink.

“Hey, wait, you don’t have to—"

“I want to,” Keith interrupted with a smile. “You really shouldn’t have to clean up after making the food.”

“But—"

“Why don’t you take a shower?” he suggested, voice soft. “I know you prefer morning ones. These’ll be done by the time you’re out.”

Lance gaped. “H-How…? How do you know when I shower?”

He couldn’t see it, but from the sudden tenseness of Keith’s shoulders and the stillness of his hands, he was certain Keith was blushing.

“You’re not the only observant one,” he said, and there was only a slight stiffness to his voice, one that surprised Lance that he even could hear. “We lived on the castle for nearly a year together, so. Yeah.”

He cleared his throat. “A-Anyway, go shower. You stink.”

“I do not!” Lance immediately denied, affronted. “I showered yesterday morning thank you very much.”

“Oh, sure,” was the response, and while it was dripping with sarcasm, there was also a touch of fondness to it. “Just go shower. Do your skin care routine. I’ll be here.”

“Yeah?” Lance asked.

He meant it playfully, but the look Keith gave him was so serious and sincere that Lance’s heart did a somersault.

“Yeah. I told you I’m not going anywhere. I’m keeping that promise.”

It took another moment for Lance to remember how to work his legs, but eventually he was able to stand up and walk again.

“I know,” he whispered, standing beside Keith. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “I know that. I… Thank you.”

Keith moved to press a kiss to his lips.

“I love you,” he said, the words sounding like a promise.

Lance sighed and closed his eyes, letting those words, that promise, wash over him. Keith meant them. _I love you._ Keith said them and meant them and Lance knew life was only going to get better from here.

“I love you too,” he whispered back.

It took him another moment to finally pull away, but when he did, he knew that Keith would still be there when he returned. Keith wasn’t going anywhere. Everything was going to be okay.

x~xXx~x

He leaned against the cold tile, panting.

The hot water splattered against his chest, running down his thighs.

It should’ve been grounding—the cold on his back and heat on his front—but all Lance could do was replay the morning’s events in his head. Replay Keith’s smile and laugh and kisses.

This was **real**. His heartbeat seemed to echo the sentiment.

**real real real**

Lance wouldn’t ever wake up from this dream because it wasn’t a dream.

What would his twelve year-old-self say about this? His seventeen-year-old self? Hell, what would his two-days-ago self say? They certain wouldn’t believe the Lance of today…but it didn’t matter because it was still so utterly, undeniably **true**.

**true true true**

Lance finished his shower and skin care routine slowly, as if he were in a trance. The shy, dopey smile didn’t leave his face once, not that he realized he was even doing it. As he put on his clothes, he unthinkingly laid out a second set on his bed. Then he blinked.

Was this what it was like to have a Soulmate?

He could get used to this.

Grabbing a clean towel, he walked back to the kitchen.

“Hey, you want to shower too?” he asked. “I’ve got some clothes out on my bed you can change into.”

Keith looked up from the sink, where he was finishing the last dish—talk about good timing—and beamed.

“Yeah, I’d love that. Thanks.”

He took the towel out of Lance’s hands and pressed his lips to Lance’s cheek.

“Be right back,” he murmured and, fuck, Lance was so in love with this man.

Once again in a daze, Lance trailed to his living room, falling face first on his couch. The dopey grin was back on his face, not that he noticed.

He was so in love, and so loved in return.

x~xXx~x

“Thanks for the clothes.”

Lance did his very best not to stare.

He very much failed.

“I—uh, I figured you’d want…um, want something more comfortable to wear too.”

He was sitting stiffly on the couch, wearing his favorite pair of black joggers and a loose red T-shirt with the faded logo of some soda company he couldn’t remember, as Keith entered the living room, his black hair dripping onto his shoulders. Lance couldn’t remember much of anything right then, not when Keith was wearing _Lance’s_ second favorite joggers (grey) and _Lance’s_ loose T-shirt (blue) with the faded words ‘Back in the SWIM of things!’ written across his chest.

Was Lance drooling? He hoped he wasn’t drooling.

“Yeah, this is much better than those jeans,” he agreed, sitting down next to him on the couch.

Keith then fell silent, biting his lip in thought. Lance knew this because he still wasn’t able to take his eyes off of him. But that wasn’t bad, right? Because they were Soulmates and they’d been kissing all morning and even slept together on the couch! So, it was totally okay to stare at Keith now. Totally acceptable to drink in the sight of him wearing Lance’s clothes and sitting on Lance’s couch and looking into Lance’s eyes—

—wait, when did that last part happen?

“Hey, um,” Keith started, blinking shyly. “When do you…when do you want tell everyone?”

Lance blinked back.

“Tell everyone...?” he asked, still cataloging every detail of Keith he could get his eyes on.

Then, his mind went blank.

Because Keith meant tell everyone about _them_.

“ _O-Oh_ ,” he stammered, finally able to look away. His eyes flickered distractedly to the movement out the window. There were a couple of birds sitting on one of the branches. “You mean…about how we’re…we’re…”

His throat closed up.

It was stupid, but Lance hadn’t thought about telling people.

**stupid stupid stupid**

Soulmates told people once they found each other. They _rejoiced_ when they found each other. They didn’t sob brokenly and accuse the other of not wanting them and—

“Hey.”

Keith’s voice broke through his thoughts. He was sitting closer to him now, right at Lance’s side, with his hand squeezing his while the other was gently touching Lance’s jaw, turning his head to look at him.

“We don’t have to yet, if you’re not ready,” he assured, voice low and soft; his thumb swiped at Lance’s cheek.

“I…”

“I mean it,” Keith pressed on, softly. “We don’t have to tell anyone ever, if you don’t want.”

Lance frowned.

He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to keep them a secret, not really. He especially didn’t want to keep _Keith_ a secret. Or, worse, force Keith to keep them a secret.

“It’s not that,” he whispered. “I just… It’s stupid, but I just didn’t think about…about telling anyone.”

Keith quickly countered, “It’s not stupid, Lance. It’s okay.”

Lance pulled away from Keith’s touch, but he couldn’t bear to take his hand out of Keith’s, so he left it there, even though he was sure Keith could feel him trembling.

“It’s not okay,” he said, hating that his eyes were stinging with unshed again. “It’s not… I don’t want to _hide_ this, but I…to tell the world that we’re…”

Clearing his throat, he whispered, “They’re going to ask questions, Keith. Questions I don’t think I can answer.”

“We don’t have to tell anyone,” Keith repeated, his hand squeezing Lance’s tightly. “We can keep it to ourselves.”

“But—”

“And when _you’re_ ready,” he continued. “We can just tell the team. The world doesn’t need to know any of our business. Just because we saved it, doesn’t mean they can be all up in our asses and know every little detail about us.”

Lance’s lips twitched into a faint smile.

“And whatever happens,” Keith added. “I’m with you. Right here. Okay?”

“…Okay,” he murmured, half-surprised at how true the statement was.

He _was_ okay. Actually, he was more than okay. He had Keith, his Soulmate, sitting by his side, holding his hand, and looking at him like he was the most important thing in the universe.

Keith’s eyes shone, twinkled like they were filled with stars, and Lance knew exactly what they were saying.

_I love you, Lance._

_I’m so sorry for the hurt I’ve caused._

_I love you so much._

_I’ll follow you wherever you go._

**_I love you._ **

They lapsed into silence and they leaned into each other. Lance’s eyes trailed back to the window, where the birds were. Their chirps could be heard through the window before they flew off, maybe to their nest.

Do birds have Soulmates?

Certainly, they don’t have these issues, if they do have Soulmates.

And certainly, they’d have no issues telling the world about them.

Telling the world… What a terrifying thought. After saving it, the team had gone through quite the ordeal, giving interviews and speeches and explanations. It had taken the world nearly a year to stop having at least one news segment broadcasted daily or some sort of hashtag featuring constantly or just random people coming up to them for autographs and pictures.

No, Lance couldn’t imagine telling the world.

But he could imagine telling someone.

“Hunk.”

“Hmm?”

“Hunk,” he repeated. “I want to tell Hunk first.”

Keith squeezed his hand.

“Okay,” he agreed, voice soft. “We can tell Hunk first.”

“Shiro next,” Lance said, knowing how hard it would be for Keith not to share this with his brother. “But Hunk... He knows I’ve never been Soulless. He kept my secret all this time, and I... He should know first.”

“Okay.”

Slowly, Keith pulled Lance’s face towards him, kissing his forehead chastely. He was so tender, so fucking tender, with him that all Lance could do was melt into the touch.

“Probably should do it today,” he added.

“We don’t have to,” Keith mumbled, resting his head on Lance’s shoulder, lips grazing against his neck. “If you’re not ready yet. They can wait.”

Well, it _was_ true…the two of them _could_ just stay there, at Lance’s house, relaxing into each other on the couch…maybe watching some movies…order some take out…holding hands…kissing…

Lance shook his head.

“No, I think we should do it today. At least for Hunk. And Shiro.”

Keith pulled Lance tighter against himself.

“You sure?”

“Yes.” He took a breath. “I think the longer I wait, the more...”

How should he word it?

 _Should_ he even voice it?

“More what?” Keith asked gently, his hand rubbing Lance’s back soothingly.

“I…” he gulped, suddenly nervous. “I’m…I’m afraid my brain is going to try and convince me you’re going to…to leave me. Eventually.”

Keith tensed. Lance wasn’t sure how he’d respond to the admission that Lance’s brain was more-or-less broken, so he quickly rushed out:

“But I know that’s not true, so the more people who know, the more I can tell my brain to—to shut up because you _won’t_ leave me, I know you won’t, it’s just sometimes my brain—”

Keith’s lips on his was definitely the best way to quiet the horrible, mean little voice in his head.

“Never,” Keith whispered, pulling Lance even closer to him until he was sitting in Keith’s lap. “I’m not going to leave you, Lance. I promise. I’m staying right here.”

“R- _Right here_? I don’t think company would approve,” Lance teased.

“Lance, I’m trying to be serious here,” Keith groaned, but it broke out into a laugh. “Besides, fuck company.”

“Fuck company?” he repeated, voice still teasing. “Uh, no, I don’t think that’s how relationships are supposed to work.”

Keith tickled his side.

Lance yelped, trying to squirm away, but that resulted with him on his back, pressed into the couch. Keith loomed over him, tickling his sides and peppering his neck with kisses.

“Oh, my god, stop, stop!” Lance squealed, giggling through each word.

After a few more kisses, Keith pulled back, but only enough to see Lance’s face clearly. He was still nestled between Lance’s thighs, pinning Lance with his chest. One of his hands was snaked up under Lance’s shirt, splayed out over the sides of his ribs, while the other was tangled in Lance’s hair as his elbow took the majority of his weight.

“H-Hey,” Keith breathed out, looking down on him.

His cheeks were burning red, and Lance didn’t think it was from all the hard work of tickling him. He was sure his face looked the same.

“Hey,” he repeated back, just as breathless.

Keith licked his lips, his mouth parting and closing a few times before he finally managed, “Can I…Can I kiss you?”

Lance mentioned how sweet and tender he was, yeah? Because _holy shit_.

“You don’t need to ask,” he reminded softly.

“Yeah, but I...” Keith looked a breath’s away from losing control the longer he stared into Lance’s eyes. “I want to... I mean, I...”

So. Fucking. Tender.

Lance reached up, took Keith’s face in his, and brought him back down to his own. Keith made a small noise in the back of his throat. It was the strangest mix between a whimper and a growl. It was hot as hell.

Quickly, it became apparent why Keith thought to ask for Lance’s permission. This wasn’t the soft, chaste kisses or tender, hesitant touches of before—this was Keith exploring Lance’s mouth with his tongue, Keith sliding hands under his shirt, Keith rocking into him with his hips, Keith engulfing him in a frenzy of passion.

Moaning, Lance parted his legs, allowing Keith to slot more securely between them, which he quickly filled with a firm roll of his hips and a strong grip in Lance’s hair.

Tender _and_ aggressive.

Lance could definitely live with that—with Keith and his adorable blushes and sincere words, his fierce kisses and purposeful touches, his blinding smile and…and his…his…

…oh, _holy shit_.

Lance _will_ live with that—with Keith and everything that encompassed him.

That was one of the whole points about Soulmates, wasn’t it? Living together. Soulmates lived together, laughed and loved together, cried and rejoiced together, and…and they…they _married_ each other…!

Oh my god.

Marry.

He’s gonna marry Keith!

“K-Keith,” he whispered, breaking the kiss.

Keith stopped immediately. His eyes were blown wide and he was panting like he’d run a marathon. A few seconds after he pulled back from Lance’s lips, his hips stuttered into stillness.

“You okay?” he asked breathlessly.

Back to being so sweetly tender.

Keith grinned shyly and ducked his head.

(Had he said that aloud?)

“Keith,” he repeated, his voice sounding completely and utterly wrecked. He _felt_ completely and utterly wrecked. It helped a little that Keith looked beyond wrecked, with his swollen lips and red cheeks and messy hair. “We’re Soulmates.”

He brought his hand up to cup Keith’s jaw, but Keith caught it and pressed a kiss to his palm.

“We are,” he affirmed. “You’re my Soulmate, Lance. You’re mine and I’m yours. Always.”

No, no, no, he wasn’t getting it. It was a sweet gesture, but Lance didn’t mean that; he meant _after_.

“ _Soulmates_ , Keith,” he tried again. “Soulmates live together and do things together and—and _marry_ each other. Have _kids_ together.”

At that, Keith’s mouth fell into a small ‘o’ and his eyes somehow blew even wider than before.

“We’re _Soulmates_...”

Keith’s face was neutral, but Lance saw flashes of...of so many different emotions, too many to decider, reflect in his eyes.

Finally, he seemed to settle on, “You’re freaking out.”

“ _I’m not freaking out_!”

He wasn’t—he didn’t think he was—but his voice sounded high pitched and panicked even to his own ears.

Keith gave him a Look.

“I’m just,” he tried again. “Just so...so everything.”

“Everything?”

He nodded. “I’m…I’m happy and scared and...and I didn’t think this was ever going to happen to me, so I—”

Fuck, he was crying.

Why was he crying, he wasn’t upset!

He was just… _everything_.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Keith soothed, his hand gently petting Lance’s hair. “We don’t have the think about that right now. Let’s just take it one day at a time, okay? Let’s just focus on telling Hunk right now.”

“O-Okay,” Lance hiccupped, willing his tears to stop. “A-And Shiro. Hunk and Shiro.”

The expression on Keith’s was so fond and sweet and a little bit exasperated.

“We don’t have to tell Shiro yet, if you’re not ready.”

“You want to tell him,” he countered, wiping the tears from his eyes. “It wouldn’t be fair to tell Hunk, but not tell Shiro.”

Keith opened his mouth, but Lance quickly continued, “No, seriously, it’s fine. I want to tell Shiro. I want him to know too.”

“Okay, then.” Keith smiled and it was blinding. “Hunk then Shiro.”

x~xXx~x

They met Hunk for his lunch break a few hours later, managing to catch him on a day where he had a two-hour breather between his number-one-mechanic-at-the-Garrison duties and his teaching-mechanics-to-the-cadets duties. They were in a small corner of a busy café, and no one, save their waitress, paid much attention to them.

It was easier, being in the city. Sure, they were recognized and sometimes people would come up to them asking excitedly for pictures or autographs, but city goers were bored easily. After seeing the same people over and over again, the star-struckness diminished and the celebrities became as background as anyone else on the street. For the most part, at least.

“Man, I get to see my best friend _twice_ in one week? This is the best day ever!” Hunk exclaimed as they sat down, grinning from ear-to-ear. “And you too, Keith! I miss ya, so much, buddy. I swear, it’s like you’re never on earth.”

Keith gave a tense smile. “Yeah, the Blade keeps me pretty busy.”

Lance shifted nervously, his mind wondering back to the conversation they’d had in the car.

Hunk caught it immediately.

“Lance, you okay?” he asked, frowning.

“Um, yeah…”

How the hell was he supposed to bring this conversation up? Maybe he and Keith should’ve talked about _that_ on the way here instead of how Keith was supposed to be leaving on another mission in about five days.

Five days.

Didn’t give him much time make a decision, did it?

 _No, stop. One thing at a time_ , he reminded himself. And what better way to bring up a conversation then by diving right into it, head first, no floaties, no lifeguard on duty.

“Hunk, I never did thank you,” he began so suddenly even he jumped a little at his voice. “For never calling me out on my lie. It meant a lot.”

Hunk froze, water glass halfway to his opened mouth while he not-so-subtly eyed Keith.

“Your…lie…?” he repeated slowly, his eyes blinking owlishly.

“My lie,” Lance confirmed with a small nod. “My lie about…”

He took a breath, staring resolutely down at the table. He really shouldn’t be this nervous—both the people at the table knew he’d been hiding the truth. It’s just that one of them didn’t know the other one knew too.

“…About me not actually being Soulless.”

The sharp gasp had Lance’s gaze flickering back up. Hunk looked like he was about to have an aneurism as his eyes darted rapidly between Lance and Keith.

“Y-You…” he stammered out, voice high. “I… Uh…”

Keith’s hand rested on Lance’s thigh, the solid weight of it grounding him. Even if the table hadn’t been in the way, he was sure Hunk didn’t see the movement; not when his eyes were constantly shifting, unable to focus on either one of them for even a full second. The weight of Keith’s hand gave Lance the confidence to continue.

“Remember when I first told you?” he asked, surprised at how steady his voice was. Quiet, but steady. “At the Garrison. We ate ice cream and…and cried all night.”

Hunk swallowed.

Just then, the waitress came by, a bubbly young woman, asking for their orders. Her enthusiasm towards them wasn’t quite as fake as it was when directed to her other customers.

“We need a few more minutes,” Keith told her, the only one out of the three of them able to speak.

“Take all the time you need, boys,” she said, winking.

Her eyes lingered for a moment longer on Lance, but he didn’t notice. He was too anxious to notice anything that wasn’t Keith’s hand, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into his knee, or Hunk’s expression, looking less pained and more confused as the seconds ticked by.

Finally, when they were alone again, Hunk croaked out, “I remember.”

Lance nodded. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He paused, then tried again. Still nothing.

“L-Lance,” Hunk said quietly, his eyes flickering once more to Keith. “Are you… Are you saying that…?”

He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until he finally released it, the sound shaky, but relieved. Hunk knew what he was saying. He didn’t have to voice it aloud.

“Yeah,” he answered, even more quietly. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

Hunk leaned back in his chair, taking in a deep breath. He looked at Keith, letting his gaze finally rest on his, taking in his image in a way he’d never done before.

Keith looked back calmly. His face was as neutral as ever, if you discounted the way his cheeks has reddened considerably.

“Wow,” Hunk breathed out.

A pause.

Then, he cracked his knuckles.

“Okay, well, guess I’ve got a promise to keep.”

Yeah, exactly, Hunk has a…wait, what?

Lance frowned.

“Keith, buddy, I’m so sorry,” Hunk apologized, standing up. “But I told Lance I’d kick his Soul Marked’s ass if I ever met them, and, well, I don’t intend to break my promise. So, I gotta kick your ass.”

Oh, _shit_!

Keith looked up at Hunk’s towering figure in confusion…and a little bit of fear.

“Hunk, no!” Frantically, Lance stood up and lightly shoved at Hunk’s shoulders. “Sit down, that’s not what I meant!”

“But you said—”

“He’s _not_ my Soul Marked,” he hissed out through gritted teeth.

“Wha—? Then—? _O-Oh_ …” Hunk blinked and, in that moment, the tension in his shoulders eased.

He was back to his calm, lovable self of two minutes prior, except now his cheeks were flushed from embarrassment.

Sheepishly, he said, “Sorry about that, Keith. I guess I…I got confused…”

Lance glanced around the room, grateful that no one was really watching their discussion. The one man he caught staring at them, quickly hunched over and averted his eyes. The tablet in his hands trembled slightly, and Lance hoped he hadn’t just lost whatever game he’d been playing due to their outburst.

“Hunk,” Lance said again, calmer. “I was never Soul Marked.”

His eyes bulged.

“Wait, _what_??”

“I was never Soul Marked,” he repeated, and, holy fuck, it felt good to say those words aloud. “It was all just a, uh—a big, um—a big miscommunication…thing…”

“B-But,” Hunk’s eyes were back to darting between him and Keith. “But _how_? There’s a, a _searing_ _burn_ when Soul Words are said. When Shay said _mine_ , I thought I was about to pass out from the pain.”

“And didn’t you say Shay didn’t feel any of that?” Lance reminded. “Didn’t you say that, for her, there wasn’t any pain, but instead her words turned gold in color?”

Hunk’s face went slack.

“Oh, uh…well, yes…” he agreed hesitantly. Once again, his eyes slid over to Keith, lingering for a second before snapping back to Lance. “Does that…? I mean, are you two…?”

Slowly, deliberately, Lance moved his hand so it rested on Keith’s thigh. Hunk’s eyes followed the movement, growing wider and wider with each passing second. 

“Yeah,” Lance whispered, unable to stop smiling. “Us two.”

And then Hunk beamed.

“Oh my god, I’m—! You’re—! Oh my god!”

A giggle burst out of Lance and Keith bit his lip to stop his own from escaping.

“This is—This is incredible, oh my god, I just…” Hunk paused, realization dawning on his face. “W-Wait. But then… If you didn’t know…because you didn’t feel it…then your Soul Words…are they…?”

“My Soul Words aren’t gold,” Keith replied, still smiling. “If that’s what you’re asking.”

“Huh.” He actually seemed a bit disappointed at the admission. “Then…why didn’t you know? How’d you even figure it out?”

Lance turned his head to Keith, also curious. It was something they’d brushed past, more important things to discuss (and kisses to share) at the time it had been brought up. He had an inkling, based on what Keith had said about their first meeting and had written in the letter, but this was one of those things that needed to be verbalized, to be explained in breathy, run-on sentences and continuous, over-analyzed explanations.

“It was just…” Keith shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable. His hand moved from Lance’s thigh to his own, resting atop Lance’s hand. “It was just a tingle. I barely noticed it, really. Kinda like when you’re walking beside someone and they accidently brush up against your hand with their own, but you’re both so engrossed in the conversation, so you don’t really think about it. It felt like that. At the time I didn’t…I mean, the only reason I could even connect the dots was because…well, you know.”

“I know what?”

Suddenly, Lance remembered the Very Important Conversation he’d had with Allura. The Very Important Conversation where he’d begged her to keep a Very Important Secret from everyone else.

“Keith,” he warned, but his voice was too strangled. Too slow.

He wasn’t quick enough to prevent what was coming next; the word wasn’t sharp enough to cut into the next sentence and stop it in its tracks.

“When Lance died.”

Keith’s voice was soft, but the way he looked at Lance was even softer and Lance’s protest quieted in his throat.

“I felt his last words tingle my wrist, and I didn’t understand at first, because I didn’t feel the first words, and I’d always expected it to be that searing pain you mentioned. The lines that crossed out these words _did_ burn though—” he laid his left wrist on the table, letting each set of words see the light “—it felt like my blood had turned to fire for those few seconds. Then when I came back from the Quantum Abyss and Lance said the second set of words, it was back to being that tingle. That light, barely-there whisper. I didn’t notice it the first time, when Lance and I were twelve, but now I know.”

He took a deep breath and looked up into Hunk’s eyes, his hidden right hand squeezing Lance’s tightly, as if he were nervous.

“I know now,” he repeated, firmer, like the words were mean to reassure him.

Hunk blinked.

Silence.

He blinked again.

More silence.

Keith started shifting uncomfortably.

“Um, is everything o—?”

“YOU _DIED_!?” Hunk roared, standing up so quickly, he knocked his chair over.

The café became as quiet and still as a graveyard at three in the morning.

He tried to regain control of the situation with a soft, insistent, “ _Hunk_ —”

“Don’t you ‘ _Hunk_ ’ me!” Hunk bellowed, eyebrows furrowed and finger pointed furiously towards Lance’s chest. “You tell me what the _fuck_ Keith is talking about, right the fuck _now_!”

“Shit,” Keith murmured, the words slipping past his lips unknowingly while his eyes had widened to the size of saucers.

There were some people who never cursed—maybe a “darn it” or a “heckin’ heck” or a “quiznak!” passed their lips on the occasion, but for the most part, they didn’t curse. It wasn’t for purity reasons or because of a haughty nature; it was just who they were. Hunk was one of those people. Lance had maybe heard him curse about three or four times in his life, and none of them ever included the F-bomb.

Until now.

And Hunk said it _twice_.

Wincing, Lance stood up too.

“Hunk, not here, man,” he hissed, leaning forward and grabbing at Hunk’s wrist. “Everyone’s watching us.”

“I don’t care!”

“ _Hunk_!”

“Thanks for everything,” Keith announced, loudly, throwing bills on the table as his chair deafeningly scraped against the floor. “Have a good day, everyone.”

He took both Lance and Hunk’s arms in his grasp and steered them out the door and down an alleyway. Lance distantly wondered if there was going to be a bruise from where Keith was gripping him, but once he saw Keith’s yellow eyes, he was absolutely certain there would be. His Soulmate was an alien and could tap into his more-than-human strength at will—kinda like Superman. It wasn’t something you’d expect to easily forget, having a half-alien for a Soulmate, but after all the aliens they met, it honestly felt a little weird to be around so many humans at times.

“Lance, what the hell?” Hunk barked, turning on him the moment they were far enough down the alleyway that his nose was nearly accustomed to the rancid smell of dumpsters.

“I…”

He shot Keith a look. It wasn’t menacing, like it might’ve once been. Rather, it was a plea. Unfortunately, Keith, the little traitor, merely raised his eyebrow, as if to say, _You can’t get out of this one, Lance_ or _How long did you honestly think you could hide this?_

It was probably both.

…Wait, when did he get so good at reading Keith’s _eyebrows_?

“Lance!” Hunk wailed, and oh, right, now was not the time to wonder how he became the Keith Whisperer. “You can’t just drop this bomb on me and not explain! You… You’re my best friend, and you’re telling me you _died_?! And I didn’t even notice!?”

He cleared his throat, “I mean, technically, Keith dropped it…”

“Lance!”

“Right, yeah, not the time, not the time.”

He took a deep breath. Looked around, double checking it was just the three of them, and then took another deep breath for good measure.

“So…” he started, shoving his hands in his jacket. He tried to raise his eyes, to look directly at his best friend as he spoke, but he couldn’t. “Do you remember the Omega shield? One plate was broken and others were out of alignment? We had to fix it before the next solar flare came and…”

And it all tumbled out of his mouth, as if now that he started, he couldn’t stop. Hunk’s eyes grew wider and wetter as he talked while his hands went from uncontrollably shaking to absolute stillness. Lance could feel Keith’s presence at his back, not touching, but steadfast nonetheless.

“…And then Allura finally promised me she wouldn’t tell.”

Once again, silence fell.

This time, there wasn’t any background chatter and clatter from the café’s other patrons. Lance wasn’t sure if he wished there was or not.

Then, finally, after minutes and minutes of nothing, the silence was broken.

“Why,” Hunk croaked out, tears falling down his cheeks. “Why didn’t you want us to know?”

Lance shrugged. “We were in the middle of the war, and everyone was already so stressed…and Shiro wasn’t acting like himself, which, well, he _wasn’t_ himself—”

“Me,” Hunk interrupted, hugging himself tightly. “Why didn’t you tell _me_? We’re… You’re my best friend, Lance, and you—you didn’t tell me!”

Automatically, Lance found himself stepping up and wrapping his arms around Hunk’s trembling form without even thinking of it. Immediately, Hunk buried his face in Lance’s chest and hugged him back tightly.

“I’m okay,” he whispered. “I’m alive, Hunk, it’s okay. I’m here.”

It took nearly ten minutes before Hunk would let go of Lance. Then it was another ten minutes because Hunk decided Keith needed in on the bear hug.

(“Uh, no, it’s fine, I’m fi—uh, okay, then…”)

“You’re my best friend,” Hunk whispered, once he’d released them both from the embrace. He was holding Lance’s shoulders like his life depended on it. “Lance, _you’re my best friend_.”

“I know, buddy.”

“Really? ‘Cause it seemed like you’d forgotten.” Hunk chuckled weakly. “I know during those last few months, everything was…crazy.”

“Understatement,” he mumbled, which has Hunk’s lips twitching into a small grin.

“True, yeah, everything was completely _wacko_ ,” he amended. “And I might’ve been more distracted and anxious and too self-centered to see something was going on with you, but that’s when you call me out on my shit, Lance! Best friends call each other out on their shit, okay? You never stopped being my number one man, man. Never.”

Once again, Lance felt tears welling up in his eyes.

“Dude,” he choked out. “Bro, you’re making me cry.”

Hunk’s own eyes were watering too, and with a sniffle he said, “Well, you’re my best friend. I love you, buddy.”

“I love you too.”

They hug again, and for a moment, Lance had forgotten why he’d even come up to see Hunk in the first place, but then he was being pushed back, held an arm’s length away with hands gripping tightly at his shoulders while Hunk’s blinding, shit-eating grin was, well, blinding and shit-eating.

“Lance, you’ve got a Soulmate!” he shouted, shaking him. “Oh my god, _Keith_ is your Soulmate! Keith, get back in here!”

“I don’t want to intru—okay, guess we’re doing this again.”

Hunk laughed and buried his face in the place where Lance’s shoulder and Keith’s shoulder were pressed against each other.

“God, I’m so happy,” he cried, voice muffled. “Best day _ever_!”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, locking eyes with Keith. “It is.”

Keith grinned in response.

x~xXx~x

After they bid farewell to Hunk, who left with a pout and a grumbled, “How am I supposed to just go back to work after _this_?” they walked to Lance’s truck in silence.

“You okay?” Keith asked, covering Lance’s hand on the steering wheel. “Want to go back home?”

Home.

Did Keith mean it like _Go back to **your** home _or _Go back to **our** home_?

Did it even matter? Keith had to leave in five days. Lance had five days to decide what to do. They had five days to tell their family about them.

Or not.

They could, instead, spend Keith’s final days on Earth holed up in some remote location, just the two of them. They could cuddle while they watch a movie or maybe hold hands as they walk around the property, talking about everything and nothing. They could make dinner together, dancing and singing along to Lance’s Epic Galactic Playlist. They could go back to the couch and kiss some more. A lot more. Maybe they could even…even do…um, do more than just make out…

Lance blushed. He couldn’t even _think_ about it. After so many years of believing he would never have Keith look at him the way he was now, trying to imagine them doing…ahem, _that_ particular activity…it was too much. He already felt like he was about to have a heart attack and he couldn’t even think about it!

A chime filled the air. Quickly, Lance picked up his phone to read the text, grateful to have an excuse to not answer Keith’s question.

**_ Hunk of My Life  
_ ** **_[1:16 PM] Just wanted to say congrats once again  
[1:16 PM] CONGRATS  
[1:17 PM] !!!!!  
[1:17 PM] And I promise to keep this a secret until you tell Pidge youself  
[1:17 PM] But man, oh man, is this gonna be hard :(  
[1:17 PM] I can do it tho, don’t worry  
[1:18 PM] Love ya, buddy <3 Good luck wih Shiro_ **

Beside him, Keith snorted.

“Wow. Can’t say surprised he’s a double texter though,” he muttered.

“I’m surprised you know what being a double texter is,” Lance teased, nudging him gently.

Keith rolled his eyes, but refrained from clapping back. He watched in silence as Lance responded.

**_[1:19 PM] thnks man, i appreciate it  
[1:19 PM] but put ur phone down!! ur driving >:(_ **

**_  
_** The response was near immediate:

**_[1:19 PM] It’s called stopping at red lights but thanks for your concern_ **

Keith snorted again.

“Oh, man,” he laughed. “The _sass_.”

“Hunk’s extremely sassy,” Lance said, putting his phone down. “He’s just not exactly sarcastic.”

Keith hummed thoughtfully.

Then, quietly, he said, “I hope he doesn’t mind that we took up his lunch.”

Lance shrugged. “He’ll be fine.”

“Will _you_ be fine?”

“What do you mean?”

Keith gave him yet another Look and Lance had to avert his eyes, the heart in his chest thumping loudly.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Keith pleaded quietly. “Lance, _please_.”

Lance bit his lip, pausing.

“It’s not… Nothing’s _wrong_ ,” he started. “I mean, it all went well with Hunk, bearing that he tried to fight you.”

“It was very honorable,” Keith said sagely, and Lance snorted so hard his throat hurt.

“Yeah, it was,” he agreed. “I’m glad Hunk and I talked. It was…well-overdue. But now… Now all I can think about it how you’re going to leave in a few days.”

Keith remained silent, for which Lance was grateful.

Licking his lips, he added, “And I know I could go with you…or I could stay behind and just wait for you…but right now neither of those options sound right…”

After a moment, Keith repeated quietly, “Would you like to go back home?”

There was that word again.

Home.

Even if Keith stayed, Lance couldn’t see him living at that house.

Hell, some days Lance woke up startled that he was out in the country, tending to a portion of his family’s animals. He never wanted that life for himself; it had been part of the reason he wanted to go to the Garrison so much—so he could do something with his life that wasn’t farming. Marco farmed, Luis and his wife farmed, and even Rachel wanted to farm. Not him though. Him and Veronica had both looked up, saw the stars, and told themselves that one day they’d be among them.

And Lance had _succeeded_. Not only had he been amongst the stars, but he _touched_ them. Lived in them. Fought for them. Yet, now he was living in his family’s guest house, about a mile from their actual home, tending to the animals, as if that’s what he’d wanted to do his whole life.

Granted, it seemed to make so much more sense before last night. Literally, twenty-four hours ago, Lance had been certain he was Soul Marked and destined for nothing but heartbreak, so why not toss aside his dreams and stay on the farm?

Except now he knew that wasn’t true. Now, he had a reason to walk with a purpose and yearn for adventures beyond the galaxy again.

But was he ready for that? For an adventure in the stars, hand-in-hand with Keith.

How could he know if he was ready?

Well, if he couldn’t even tell his friends about him and Keith, then he certainly couldn’t go out into the universe for an adventure.

“No.” He shook his head. “No, we need to tell Shiro.”

Keith nodded, taking out his own phone. Lance didn’t watch him send the message, but he did raise an eyebrow when Keith’s thumbs continued moving long after a **_hey u at ur house?_** text warranted.

“Shiro’s home,” Keith said, still typing. “He said Curtis isn’t though, but he’ll be back in the evening.”

“Does he think we’re going to stay that long? It’s not even 1:30 yet.”

Keith made a face. “Maybe. He knows about why I stayed last night so…it might be a longer conversation than the one with Hunk.”

Lance sighed.

“Do you—?”

“If you ask me one more time about going home, I’m drop kicking you into the next galaxy.”

“…Want to get some lunch before we head over?”

“Heh, nice save.” He hummed. “No, I think I’ll be fine. I’m sure Shiro will offer us whatever cookie-of-the-week he’s been making anyway. You?”

“Nah, I’m not hungry.”

“Awesome.” Lance started the car. “Let’s go to Shiro’s then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to cut this fic into 2 chapters because it's been getting really, really long (12k+ words) so I'm posting the part that's been done for a while now. Shiro's conversation is up next! :D
> 
> And, yes, that one scene where Lance talks about the ocean + the stars is inspired by [this tumblr comic](https://taytei.tumblr.com/post/175674664721/why-did-you-become-a-pilot-part-1-keith), which is super amazing, so check it out! :)
> 
> \--
> 
> Psst! by the way: I have a multi-chapter fic in the works that will feature all sorts of AUs including: Soulmate AU, Mermaid AU, Galtean AU, Role Reversal AU, and even Parent AU! the Parent AU will be based off [this series I wrote](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1298675) so check it out maybe? Pretty please? :)
> 
> \--
> 
> ☕️come share a [ko-fi coffee](https://ko-fi.com/katerinariley0707) with me!
> 
> 💙to DM me, read my latest threads, &/or watch me obsess over my latest fixation(s) in real time, follow me [on twitter](https://twitter.com/KaterinaWritely)
> 
> \--
> 
> If you read & enjoyed my work, feel free to comment a ❤️ or a 😊 or even a ❗️❗️❗️ if you're unsure what to say. Thanks a bunches😘✨


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> t's a big step, telling his space family about him and Keith, but Lance knows he can tell them. First was Hunk; now it's Shiro's turn. With Keith by his side, it's really not all that scary...
> 
> Unfortunately, Lance doesn't have much of a choice in the step after telling Shiro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beginning Note: Alrighty folks let’s get this show on the road! Final chapter of the final installment WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!1!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!1
> 
> btw Happy New Years!! It’s 2020 bitcjes!!! aA new decade!!! I meant to post this before 2019 was over, but…well that didn’t happen  
> ¯\\_༼ ಥ ‿ ಥ ༽_/¯  
>  ~~but somehow I finished it today, on the first, and idk how I did that, but I am so, so happy about it~~
> 
> I hope you enjoy!!

Shiro opened the door with the biggest grin Lance had ever seen.

“Hey boys,” he greeted, practically singing. “How’s life going? Anything _new_?”

He held out a tray of cookies for them, wearing the most ridiculous-yet-adorable [apron](https://www.amazon.com/Ambesonne-Distressed-Abduction-Adjustable-Gardening/dp/B077JQ53K8/ref=asc_df_B077JQ53K8/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309781195637&hvpos=1o7&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8891356059485730717&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011723&hvtargid=pla-606812227860&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=60510366126&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=309781195637&hvpos=1o7&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8891356059485730717&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011723&hvtargid=pla-606812227860) Lance had ever seen. It was deep blue with white splatters to resemble stars. A UFO was beaming up some poor soul, who’d flipped upside-down. It was the first time he’d seen it in person; when Shiro had first gotten the apron, curtesy of Curtis of course, he’d texted Lance several pictures of him posing in it, the last of which had featured Shiro doubled over in laughter, tears down his face from the hilariousness of it all. The apron, and the memory, almost ( _almost_ ) distracted Lance from Shiro’s ear-splitting, shit-eating grin that simultaneously made him want to laugh at the look of it and hide from the sheer embarrassment of what he was implying.

“Shiro, you’re not subtle,” Keith groaned, rolling his eyes and pushing his way into the house.

Lance took a cookie before following Keith to Shiro’s living room.

“Not bad,” he mumbled, shoving the whole thing into his mouth and grabbing two more.

(…Okay, so maybe he was actually a little hungry.)

“Thanks! It’s snickerdoodle with white chocolate chips,” Shiro beamed as he followed them to the living room and placed the tray down.

Grabbing yet another cookie, Lance asked, mouth partially full, “Do you have anything to drink?”

“Yeah, I just made a fresh pitcher of lemonade!” He held up a finger, dashing into the kitchen. “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere!”

A few moments later, he remerged with a large pitcher of pale-yellow lemonade and a couple cups. He wasn’t wearing his apron anymore, and Lance found he missed the distraction of it. 

Sitting down across from them, he crossed his legs and repeated, quite cheekily, if Lance was so bold to think, “ _Soooo_ …how’s life…? Anything _new_ happen…?”

“Life’s good,” Lance answered when Keith only rolled his eyes again, downing the lemonade.

“How good?” Shiro asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Uh…” Lance didn’t think he ever wanted to see that again. “Really good?”

“How really—?”

Keith set his glass down loudly. “Stop being coy, Shiro. It doesn’t suit you.”

Shiro grinned again, leaning back in his chair.

“So, I take it my advice worked,” he announced smugly.

“It was your idea to do the letter?” Lance asked at the same time Keith answered, “Well, no…not exactly.”

Shiro frowned, his smug expression disappearing. Hesitantly, he looked between the two of them. 

“…What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”

Keith grimaced, tapping his fingers on his knee.

Lance wondered how he was going to go about telling—

“I fucked up, Shiro.”

Lance winced.

Okay, so that was the direction he was going to take.

Bold.

 _Harsh_.

Shiro frowned harder.

“Uh…okay…” he said, keeping his gaze steadily on Keith.

“I was twelve.”

“…Wait, what?”

Keith grimaced again.

“Dammit, this is harder than I thought,” he muttered under his breath.

“Okay, what exactly is going on?” Shiro asked, voice steady as he sat upright; shit was serious now.

Taking a deep breath, Keith straightened his back and announced: “Lance is my Soulmate.”

Shiro’s eyes shifted to Lance. He tried not to bit his lip too hard at the intensity of the stare.

“Yes,” Shiro began slowly. “I know…”

“No, I mean… Shit.” Keith rubbed his face. “I mean, _I’m_ Lance’s Soulmate too.”

At that, Shiro’s face morphed from this-is-serious-and-you-have-my-full-attention-proceed into pure, unbridled joy.

“ _Oh_! Oh my god! Lance, _you got Soul Words_?!” He was practically bouncing in his chair. “How did it feel when they formed? Was it painful? Were you confused? When did it hap—?”

“Actually,” he interrupted, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. He gripped his arms so tightly, he could feel his fingernails digging into the skin. “I’ve…I’ve always had Soul Words…”

Shiro blinked. He sat frozen for a solid four seconds before his grin began melting. His hands, which had been raised up and fisted in delight, slowly lowered down.

“You…” He blinked again, twice. “…what?”

“And,” Lance swallowed, shifting in his seat, unable to feel comfortable anymore. “And they were always Keith’s.”

“…Always _who_?!”

“I told you,” Keith said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his thighs. He rested his forehead against his clasped hands. “I. Fucked. Up.”

Shiro’s eyes darted between the two of them, frowning. His serious face was returning, the one that reminded Lance that Black choose him first, and he piloted the Atlas, backing Voltron up, without any fear.

“I think,” he started slowly. “I’m missing some vital parts of this story.”

“You are,” Keith agreed. He took a deep breath. “So was I, until last night.”

Lance carefully reached over, taking one if Keith’s hands into his. He squeezed it reassuringly. Keith looked up, his eyes shining with unshed tears, and Lance was suddenly hit by the waves of emotions that were practically radiating off Keith. He wondered how he didn’t realize that Keith was still so affected about the whole situation. He’d been able to tell what Keith had been thinking with just a cock of his eyebrow, but somehow his head was too far up his own ass to see that Keith was struggling with some things too. It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since everything had been revealed! If Lance was still having to cast away and rebuke his doubts, then of course, Keith was still being affected by the past too.

“Do you want me to—?”

“No,” Keith cut in quickly, despite the tremble in his hands. “No, you told Hunk. It’s my turn.”

They looked back up at Shiro, who was staring at them with a weird mixture of utter confusion and immense glee.

Keith immediately scowled.

“Stop it,” he grumbled.

“No, I don’t think I shall,” Shiro replied with a cocky little smirk.

Lance found himself holding back his own grin, despite his nerves. The banter between the two men was so similar to how he and Veronica would act around each other. It made him almost homesick. Sure, he’d been living on his parents’ property for these past few months, but he’d never really felt like he was home. With the way he had isolated himself, sometimes he left like he was still in space, light years away from the ones who’d first showed him what love and family looked like. Still, there had been the odd day or two, where he and Veronica could rile each other up, throwing out teasing words and nudges with sharp elbows as they laughed and joked and talked, like nothing was amiss. Like Lance hadn’t been gone for years, stuck in space, fighting a war and losing parts of himself that he never revealed to the world. Not even to his family. Not even to Veronica.

Veronica…

Shit, how was he going to tell her? Tell _everyone_? He had kept the fact that (he thought) he was Marked from them all this time! For all they knew, he was still searching for his Soul Mate. How the hell was he supposed to explain this to them? _When_ was he supposed to explain this to them? How would they react knowing he kept a part of himself secret for _years_?

“Look, I think I should start at the beginning,” Keith said, his voice thin.

Lance quickly pushed aside his previous thoughts. They could wait, but right now, he needed to be fully present in this moment. For Keith. Reassuringly, he squeezed Keith’s hand, covering it with his other. Keith’s hand squeezed back, but Lance wasn’t sure if it was purposeful or just instinctual.

Licking his lips, Keith slowly began retelling what he and Lance had discovered the night previous. Shiro’s smirk soon melted away; the corners of his lips falling lower and lower until…

“Wait, Lance you _died_?”

Lance averted his eyes.

“Only for a few seconds,” he clarified, voice low. “It’s fine.”

“Wha—? _No_!” Shiro stood, arms waving. “It’s not _fine_! Dying isn’t—! It’s a big fucking deal, Lance! _I_ would know! …Why didn’t I know?!”

Lance winced.

“Nobody knew,” Keith said, his voice slightly strangled. “Not even Hunk.”

“Not even _Hunk_?!” Shiro repeated, several octaves higher than usual. “Lance, why would you—?”

“It didn’t matter,” he cut off again. Why the hell did everyone focus on this? “I’m _fine_.”

Shiro looked at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Doesn’t—?! _Of course,_ it matters! Lance you should’ve told _someone_ —!”

“Allura knew,” he reminded tersely. “She agreed with me that we shouldn’t tell anyone.”

She agreed with him after a very heated, very long discussion, that almost didn’t go his way…but Shiro didn’t need to know that part.

“And if she were here,” Shiro smoothly interjected, “I’d be chewing her ass out too, but at it were, she’s not and you are and, fucking hell, Lance, people need to know this!”

That did it, that was the final straw

“We were in a war!” he shouted, standing up. “Fuck, Shiro, we were in a _war_. What did you expect me to do? Remind everyone of our own mortality? Alert our enemies that _I_ was the weakling out of the group. That you take me out, then the rest would crumble—” he snapped his fingers “—like that?

Shiro’s mouth dropped in shock. Why he was shocked, Lance didn’t know, but he didn’t dare give Shiro to chance to speak again. Not before he said all he had to.

“You weren’t there, Keith wasn’t there,” he continued, voice hardening even more. “We had _two_ enemies in our midst the entire time: Lotor and your clone, so don’t tell me I should’ve told anyone about this weakness. Don’t tell me I should’ve put the time in even more danger. Even without knowing about your clone, I knew we couldn’t afford lose focus, not during a _war_ , and especially not for something as trivial as my—”

“ _Trivial_?!” Shiro squeaked, loud enough to stop Lance’s rant. “Dying isn’t _trivial_!”

Lance huffed, running both hands through his hair.

“It was _two seconds_ ,” he repeated. “Allura brought me back—I’m _back_ —it’s _fine_!”

“ _How_ is that _fine_? How is thinking any of what you said is _fine_?!”

“It was so long ago that I don’t even remember it!”

He didn’t say that last night, in Keith’s arms, was the first time he hadn’t had any nightmares. He didn’t say that he’d thought about it every day since he’d been revived. He didn’t say that before last night, there were times he would hold his chef’s knife or a bottle of pills and brandy, staring at his Soul Words and wishing he hadn’t come back to this life of misery.

He didn’t say any of that, but Shiro could clearly see his lie.

“You’re _really_ going to stand there and just expect me to assume that _dying_ didn’t have any affect on your life whatsoever?!”

“Yes! Because it didn’t!”

“Well, if that isn’t the biggest pile of _shit_ —!”

“ _STOP_!”

Keith was suddenly standing between them, his hands pressed against their chest and pushing them apart.

“God, _please_ ,” he begged. “Please stop.”

Lance blinked. He looked up, eyes locking with Shiro’s, as the realization hit them both at once, knocking the breath from their lungs.

Begged. Keith had just _begged_. He _never_ begged; he’d maybe would plead on the very, very, _very_ rare occasion, but _beg_? No. Not him, not even during the most harrowing of missions or to get out of the most boring party celebration.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Keith’s yellow eyes (he had to have tapped into his Galra strength in order to push Shiro and his Altean arm away) were glossy and wet. It was something Lance had only really seen last night.

“Stop,” Keith repeated quietly, his bottom lip now trembling.

“Keith…”

Carefully, Lance brought his hands up, gently holding Keith’s that pressed against his chest. It was fisted in his shirt (when had that happened?) and shaking.

“Keith, are you okay?” he asked softly.

For a moment, Keith just stood there, chest heaving and hair covering his yellow-eyes.

Then he crumbled.

Shiro caught him, his Altean arm moving before he probably even realized what was happening.

“Keith!” they cried out, falling to their knees with arms outstretched, searching for whatever it was that caused this in their friend, in Lance’s Soulmate.

“You both…” he whispered, the tears freely flowing down his face now. “You _both_ and I…I couldn’t…I _wasn’t_ …”

 _Oh_.

Oh, _fuck_!

“You’re here now,” Lance assured quickly, pressing himself even more into Keith’s side as he carefully began petting his hair. “It’s okay, Keith, it’s okay.”

“I wasn’t _there_ ,” Keith finished weakly. He didn’t seem to have heard Lance, but he rested his weight more heavily into Lance regardless. “I couldn’t…I couldn’t stop either of you from _dying_ …”

Lance wasn’t sure if the pained noise he heard was from him or Shiro. It was probably both of them.

“You’re here now,” Shiro echoed. “That’s what matters, Keith. You’re here now. We _all_ are.”

“But—”

“Don’t you dare,” Shiro cut off. “I know that road you’re about to go down, and don’t you dare do it. What happened to Lance and I isn’t your fault. You wouldn’t have been able to stop it even if you knew.”

Keith whimpered.

“But you’re here for us _now_ , Keith,” he quickly soothed. “You even played a part in my resuscitation, remember?”

“A big part,” Lance added, still petting Keith’s hair. “You were the main character!”

That earned him the tiniest of chuckles, which made his face split into a wide grin.

It fell the moment he heard, “Allura was your main character then.”

“M-Maybe,” he stammered out. “For that one moment, yeah, I guess she was. She’s the main character in your life too, though, yeah? Allura’s the badass space princess, who saved the whole damn _universe_ from Honerva—saved _multiple_ universes from her. Multiple universi? Univer—? No, sorry, that’s off topic.”

Another small chuckle, just a smidgen louder than the first.

“Allura brought me back to life, that’s true…” He took a deep breath. “But I never wanted her to be my main character. I wanted _you_ , Keith. I’ve _always_ wanted you. I pretended I was in love with her because I was so sure you didn’t want me back. I wanted that pain to end so badly, that I tried to force myself to fall in love with someone else…But it never worked. I—”

Keith’s hand on his cheek stopped him. The fresh set of tears flowing down his eyes stopped him.

“Lance,” he whispered, voice choked. “Lance, I…”

His eyes danced back and forth, peering into Lance’s as if he couldn’t drink enough of him.

Then he surged forward.

Lance moaned into Keith’s mouth, parting his lips so Keith’s tongue could slide in. He found himself with a lapful of Keith within seconds. Immediately, his arms moved to securely wrap themselves around Keith’s waist, pressing him more fully into his own body.

“You’re not weak, Lance,” Keith murmured between kisses, the words tingling Lance’s lips. “You’re the strongest person I know. You’re not weak. You’re—”

“ _Ahem_.”

They froze.

Slowly, they pulled back and turned towards the sound.

“Maybe save that for when you’re alone?” Shiro suggested lightly, his eyes averted and cheeks tinged with red. “Or, I have a spare bedroom if—”

“Oh god, Shiro, _stop talking_ ,” Keith groaned, his head falling down to hide in Lance’s shoulder.

Lance just smiled awkwardly, hoping he wasn’t blushing as badly as he imagined. He could feel the heat of Keith’s blush even through his shirt, so at least he wasn’t alone in the Totally Embarrassed department.

Then, once again, a growling stomach interrupted the atmosphere.

This time, it was Lance’s.

“You’re hungry,” Keith stated, pulling back to look Lance in the eye with a frown.

“Guess I am,” he agreed, glancing at the clock; it was just before three in the afternoon. “But you’re not done yet. And I don’t want to talk about this outside.”

At first it looked like Keith was about to argue, but then he pinched his lips together tightly and nodded shortly. He turned to Shiro again, shifting to get more comfortable on the floor, but didn’t fully remove himself from Lance’s lap. Lance moved too, bringing his legs out from under him so he could sit crisscross-applesauce. Keith’s legs were draped over his lap and he was leaning against his side.

“So, my second set of words,” he began slowly, voice hoarse. “Were still Lance’s. I just didn’t realize until last night.”

He paused, eyes growing hazy as he stared unblinkingly at something only he could see.

“What happened last night?” Shiro prompted gently.

Keith took in a breath.

“Last night…” he squeezed Lance’s hand. “Last night, I walked into the kitchen and…well, and all hell broke loose…”

He explained how he’d chickened out and offered to help Lance with the dishes. How Lance’s wrists had been bare, covered by nothing except a few soapy bubbles. How they’d yelled at each other until they…didn’t. He skipped to the morning, leaving out how they’d kissed and kissed and cried and eventually fell asleep on the couch, curled into each other. He explained the final bits and pieces that tied in how the past eighteen-ish hours had been for them, ending with, “And then we came here.”

“…Wow,” Shiro murmured slowly.

“Yeah,” Keith confirmed.

Lance’s stomach growled its own sentiment.

“Okay, we should get some food now,” Keith decided, standing up and offering his hand to Lance.

“Have you tried the new place on Main?” Shiro asked, standing up as well. “Curtis and I went there a few days ago. It’s really good.”

Keith looked to Lance.

Smiling, Lance said, “Yeah, that sounds good. But you’re driving, Shiro.”

x~xXx~x

They’d just ordered, handing the waiter their menus when Lance blurted, “Shiro, can I ask about Curtis?”

He winced at the crassness of his questions, but Shiro didn’t seem bothered.

With a knowing smile, he asked, “What about him?”

Lance fidgeted in his seat.

“I know…”

Shit, how was he supposed to word this?

“I know that you and him aren’t…Soulmates…”

“That’s true,” Shiro agreed.

Lance bit his lip, pausing again to try and word his question. Thankfully, Shiro seemed to know what he was about to ask, and took pity on him.

“It was really hard,” he started. “Waking up and realizing that Adam had died while I was…uh…”

“Trapped in a sentient, metal lion’s unconsciousness?” Keith suggested.

Shiro snorted.

“Yeah, that.” He shook his head a little. “I felt so lost when I realized what those lines meant. So alone…

“At first, Curtis and I were just two people whose Soulmates had died. Xander had been in the aircraft with Adam, he told me. Their body, Adam’s body—none of the crew’s bodies—had survived that fireball, which was the hardest. There wasn’t something to burry. That was worse for Curtis considering he was actually at the funeral.”

Lance swallowed, listening with rapt attention to Shiro’s words.

“Even before we finally defeated Honerva, I felt pulled toward him. He had the same look in his eyes that I felt in my soul. He sensed it too, and we just gravitated to each other. There was…peace being with him. We didn’t intend for our relationship to be anything other than friends, but, well, you can’t always control these things.”

“No, I suppose you can’t,” Lance murmured in agreement.

He looked down at his hands awkwardly, trying to find the words he needed to say. Shiro sat patiently, sipping his hot tea. Keith pressed his thigh against Lance’s underneath the table.

“I don’t…” he began slowly. “I don’t want to seem nosey or anything. Feel free to tell me to shut up if I’m overstepping anything—”

“You’re not,” Shiro quickly assured.

Lance felt his lips twitch into a smile.

“I just…” He sighed. Maybe this was something he should’ve just kept quiet on, but he was curious, dammit. And now he can ask without feeling like a failure. “Before last night, I was so sure that I, well, wouldn’t get what you have. You and Curtis found each other without ever being Soulmates, and I…well, I was a little jealous of you for a while.”

Keith’s hand squeezed his. Lance didn’t remember when they’d started holding hands, but he squeezed Keith’s back.

“So, I guess, I was…I wondered how you managed to do that, when I couldn’t.”

“Hmm. Well, luck mainly, I’d guess. But it’s a good thing you didn’t, considering…” Shiro trailed off, nodding his head towards Keith.

Lance felt his face heat up.

“R-Right! No, no, you’re totally right,” he backtracked. “I’m really glad I didn’t, uh, move on—”

“Lance,” Keith breathed out, squeezing his hand. “You okay?”

“I…” He grimaced. “Yeah. It’s just before…before last night, I kept wondering what was wrong with me. Since I couldn’t seem to move on from my Soulmate like Shiro had.”

Flickering his eyes up to meet Shiro’s, he hastily added, “But a part of me always had hope that something would change for me. I didn’t want to let go of that hope, even though it seemed impossible that anything would change.”

“It wasn’t,” Keith whispered, leaning his forehead into Lance’s shoulder, his arms moved to wrap around his waist. 

Shiro grinned at them. “I guess the universe knew you just had to wait for this dense walnut—”

“Wha—? _Hey_!”

“—to realize you were Soulmates. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long.”

“Me neither,” Keith sighed, kissing Lance’s cheek before setting his head back down on his shoulder.

His voice was soft, but he did send a rather scalding glare towards Shiro, who didn’t seem affected by it in the slightest. In fact, he was holding back his laughter.

Their waiter came by then, refilling their drinks, though Lance’s had been largely untouched. The man was older and didn’t appear to have the slightest clue as to who they were, so Keith didn’t remove himself from Lance’s shoulder, and Lance didn’t feel the need to worry about being caught with Keith hanging onto him. In fact, he enjoyed the kind, grandfatherly smile the man and given them before he’d left again.

Shiro another took a sip of his fresh hot tea, letting out a quiet hum as he did so. Lance took a breath and glanced down at Keith; he was only slightly surprised that Keith was already looking at him, eyes soft.

“Hey,” he whispered, unable to stop himself from grinning.

“Hey,” Keith whispered back. “I love you.”

Lance never wanted to get used to the warmth that blossomed from his chest at those words.

“I love you too.”

“You two are so cute it’s going to give me cavities,” Shiro said.

Startled, they jumped away from each other, but within seconds, were back to holding hands and pressing their thighs, sides, and shoulders together, as if they couldn’t bare to be apart. (Because they couldn’t.)

Keith rolled his eyes and huffed out a short chuckle.

“Damn, Shiro, you sure have a knack of ruining the mood,” he grumbled, not sounding very angry about it.

Shrugging, Shiro said, “And you’ve only officially been together for less than a day. Imagine all the ways I’ll ruin the mood in the future.”

“Wow, that’s just _so_ romantic,” Keith sassed. “I see why Curtis married you.”

Shiro threw his head back in laughter.

“Okay, firstly, _rude_ ,” Shiro admonished, grinning. “I am plenty romantic, for your information. And secondly, I have been cheering for you two since the beginning, so you better appreciate me more.”

“The beginning?” Lance questioned, looking down at Keith with his brows furrowed.

Keith blushed and turned his head away.

“ _Oh_!” Lance grinned slyly. “You mean since the Bonding Moment, capital B, M.”

Keith blushed harder.

“Aw, you had a crush on me!” Lance teased, poking his side.

“Shut up, we’re literally Soulmates,” Keith groaned, hiding his face in his hand.

Lance tucked a strand of Keith’s hair behind his ears.

“I can see you blushing,” he sing-songed.

Keith immediately covered his ears, leaving his face exposed to Lance could see the flush of his cheeks and pout of his lips.

 _I can kiss those lips_ , he remembered, the thought making his own face heat up slightly. And he would’ve too, if Shiro hadn’t been sitting across from them, laughing his head off.

“God, if only the yous of the past could see this,” he gasped out, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

Keith’s eyes sharpened into a soft glare.

“Shiro,” he began, but was cut off by their waiter bringing their food, and soon, they were all too busy stuffing their mouths to continue on the way they’d been.

Their conversation lulled, though after a few minutes, Shiro and Keith had started one back up, something about reminiscing about the first lunch Keith ever had with Shiro after being out of foster care. Lance paid attention to it, but mainly kept quiet as he ate his fill.

“We ended that with ice cream, didn’t we?” Shiro asked, already finished with his small lunch portion.

“Ice cream?” Lance echoed, though it sounded more like “ _Iss cweam_?”

Keith laughed.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” he agreed, waving down their waiter to pay the bill.

x~xXx~x

Lance tried to pay for their ice cream, but Shiro beat him to it. He grumbled a little bit, mostly for show. They walked through the park, enjoying their ice cream and the view of the giant, manmade pond, talking about everything and nothing, when suddenly—

_NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP~ NEVER GONNA LET YOU DOWN~_

“Whose fucking ringtone is that?” Keith groaned.

Lance looked him dead in the eye.

“Hey, Pidge,” he greeted, putting his phone to his ear. “What’s up?”

“Of course,” Keith muttered, but it was drowned out by Pidge’s, “ _Lance, turn on your TV right now!_ ”

He frowned at her tone.

“I’m at the park,” he explained. “I’m not in front of—”

His phone buzzed as Pidge’s voice rang out, “ _Watch that right fucking now, Lance! Holy shit, what the fuck!_ ”

Pidge’s voice was loud enough to catch Keith and Shiro’s attention so, they stepped closer, peering down at Lance’s phone as he opened the link. It was a livestream broadcast of one of the local news stations.

Some guy, who looked vaguely familiar, was enthusiastically waving his arms, his face sweating and bright red, as he repeated, “ _Soulmates! Yes, that’s right they’re **Soulmates**_ _and not only that, but there’s **drama** and **death** and only **I** have the exclusive!_”

The feed cut to a shaky video of three people sitting at a table. One of them, a big, beefy-type guy cracked his knuckles and stood up, apologizing to—

_“Keith, buddy, I’m so sorry…”_

The phone slips out of Lance’s hands, saved from certain shattering by Keith’s quick reflexes. His ice cream however, looked like its own murder scene.

“What the fuck,” he whispered, his legs wobbling.

“That was you two,” Shiro said, eye twitching. “You and Hunk and you…you were being _recorded_ …”

“I’m going to kill him,” Keith growled out. “I’m going to fucking _hunt_ him down at _gut_ him.”

That’s why he looked familiar. That news guy was the same one who’s been playing some game on his tablet when Hunk’s outburst had nearly disrupted the entire café…except he hadn’t been playing a game. He’d been _recording_ them.

Lance reached for his phone again, knowing no good would come from it, but needing to know just how much was captured. He flipped his screen back over, just in time to see the video cut to another scene. It was the three of them in the alleyway.

 _“It was…so cold,”_ his voice said. _“But then it was warm again, like, really fucking warm, and the next thing I knew, I was looking up into Allura’s eyes. She…she saved me. Brought me back from the dead…”_

This time, his legs did give out.

Keith caught him easily, pulling him closer into his body. He was trembling too, but Lance had just enough sense to knew that what was coursing through Keith’s body was unbridled _rage_.

Shiro caught his phone this time, kneeling down beside Lance.

“ _Our heroes are just like us!_ ” the man was jabbering on. “ _They have Soulmate drama, just like us, and sorry for all the ladies that wanted either of them, but seems like they’re off the market! Though for how long? Red didn’t tell anyone about being Black’s Soulmate **or** about dying. I don’t know about you guys, but if my friend, my **Soulmate** , kept that from me, they wouldn’t be either for very much longer._”

The words hit Lance in the face, feeling very much like one of Haggar’s spells.

“ _What do you guys think? Would **you** want to be left in the dark for years about something about important as that? Could you even forgive—?_"

Shiro turned off the live feed. He put the phone up to his ear, and Lance knew he was talking, telling Pidge something, but all he could hear was the ringing in his ears, the beating of his heart.

They knew.

The world _knew_.

And they were going to _hate_ him for it.

For keeping secrets. For lying. For betraying their trust. Their faith.

“No,” someone fiercely whispered in his ear. “You didn’t betray anyone, Lance. We will _always_ trust you. We love you, Lance, _nothing_ can change that.”

Who said that?

“I’m right here,” the voice continued. “It’s okay, Lance. I’m right here. _Breathe_.”

His mouth fell open, ready to do just that, but he couldn’t. The air wouldn’t come in. He couldn’t get the air in. He _couldn’t_. He couldn’t, he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t breathe, he—

“ _Lance_.”

Suddenly, sharp, purple eyes locked onto his. A gentle hand cupped his cheek.

He knew those eyes. Those hands, too.

“Lance,” the voice repeated. “You’re okay. I’m right here.”

“ _Keith_ ,” he whispered, finally able to pull air back into his lungs.

“Right here. I’m _right here_.”

The wind rustled and Lance’s eyes wondered to behind Keith, to where the others at the park were looking at them. Whispering. He couldn’t hear what they were saying. Did he want to? Did they know about the footage?

“Let’s go, we’re going home,” Shiro said, appearing at Lance’s left and helping him up on his feet. “Right now, come on.”

Lance didn’t see the way Keith frowned. Didn’t see the silent conversation that the two men had, didn’t see how Keith’s eyes widened as the realization of just how bad the damage this newsman’s broadcast could be. Lance didn’t see any of it. All he knew was that one moment he was in Keith’s arms at the park and the next he was in Keith’s arms in the car.

“I got you,” Keith was whispering, running his fingers though Lance’s hair. “I’m here, Lance, I’m right here, everything’s going to be okay…”

x~xXx~x

Pidge and Curtis were waiting for them back at Shiro’s house.

Lance didn’t really remember the ride. He did recall the moment his phone started buzzing, notification after notification coming in from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, hell even his barely used accounts of Reddit and Tumblr were causing his phone to shake like it was doing a poor imitation of the Macarena.

 _“Do I want to know what they’re saying?”_ he’d asked quietly.

Keith, who’d had his phone since Shiro and Pidge had hung up, turned the device off and set it down, away from Lance’s reach.

 _“What who’s saying?”_ he’d responded.

Lance had smiled and burred his face even more into Keith’s neck. He liked it here, sitting in Keith’s lap like this, even if it wasn’t the safest way to ride in a car. One of Keith’s arms was wrapped around him tightly, the other, gently holding onto Lance’s shirt, right above his heart. Lance was nestled between Keith’s spread legs, sitting sideways, and leaning against him like his life depended on it.

He wished he could be back in those arms right now.

“What the fuck?!” Pidge shouted, running up to them the moment she saw them enter the house. “You’re _Soulmates_?!”

“Pidge,” Keith warned, hand tightening in Lance’s grip.

“I thought you were _Soulless_!” she continued, ignoring Keith and Shiro’s glare. “You told us you were _Soulless_ and then I have out, _on the fucking **conservative** news channel_, that you’re not! What the fuck, man?!”

“Pidge,” Keith said again, this time stepping forward, but Lance pulled him back.

“No, it’s,” he mumbled. “It’s fine. Let me.”

That got her attention. She blinked, her eyes comically bigger behind her giant glasses, and her entire demeanor changed.

“Lance,” she said hesitantly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…” He licks his lips. “I’ve been better. And worse.”

He paused, glancing up at Pidge, then Keith, then Pidge again.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he finally said, whispering. “For a long time, I actually thought I was Marked, but then—”

“Hey! Hey, Red Paladin Lance!” 

“We know you’re in there!”

“Lance, can you answer some questions!”

“We just want to know the truth!” 

“Open the door, Lance!”

Shiro’s porch lights up with camera flashes. The silhouettes of bodies appear on the adjacent wall.

“They’re going to get in,” Lance muttered, eyes wide.

“Like fuck they will,” Keith growled out, his hands balled into fists.

Before he could take a step, Shiro stopped him.

“They won’t get in,” he assured. “Go to the living room. _Be with him_.”

That last part was more for Keith than anyone else, but Pidge seemed to take it upon herself to take Lance’s hand and steer him towards the couch. The couch that he and Keith had been sitting on just a few hours ago.

“It’s going to be okay, Lance,” Pidge said calmly, gently stocking his hand with her thumb. “And if anything bad happened, well, I’ll just have to test _this_ out on ‘em!”

She whipped out some sort pistol-like machinery. It was quite beautiful, though Lance couldn’t focus on the intricate details of it. It was silver and blue, could probably fit in his hand easily considering the size it looked in Pidge’s tiny hands, and it had some sort of design on the sides. That’s about all he could focus on.

“Get the fuck off my porch!” Shiro’s voice rang out.

“This is private property, get out!” Curtis’ joined.

The rest of what they said was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

“What a bunch of entitled _bitches_ ,” Pidge snorted, voice scathing.

Lance felt the ghost of a smile pull at his lips.

“Shiro will take care of their bitch asses,” Keith added.

Lance’s ghost of a smile became a little more solidified. Slowly, he lifted his head.

“Thanks, guys.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Pidge continued. “This is all gonna blow over in a couple days, I have no doubt.”

“…Really?”

Pidge looked at him, confused.

“Do you really think it’ll blow over that quickly?” Lance clarified, quietly.

“Why wouldn’t it?” she asked.

“B-Because,” he swallowed. “I lied to you all. I pretended to be something I wasn’t. I—”

“LET ME THROUGH!”

They jumped.

“Was that Hunk?” Keith muttered, standing up.

“MOVE! LET ME THROUGH!”

Pidge stood up too, gasping, “It _is_ Hunk!”

“Lance, are you okay?” he shouted, tripping and stumbling his way into Shiro’s living room, Shiro and Curtis coming in right after him. “It’s a madhouse out there, geeze!”

“Hunk,” Lance called out, stumbling towards his friend, but he didn’t get there in time.

**_{ B O O M }_ **

Silence. 

Three, two, one—

“Shit, what the—?” 

“Oh, god, the smell!”

“Who the fuck is _that_ maniac?!”

“Run! He’s gonna kill us!” 

“What the hell is going on?!”

The sound of the paparazzi disappeared, their loud footsteps and even louder shrieks growing distant with each passing second.

Shiro and Curtis’ faces turned paler with each passing second.

“Did…Did someone just blow up our front yard?” Curtis stuttered out, eyes wide as he stared at his front door.

“Did they blow up our _porch_?” Shiro added, sounding completely scandalized.

Then, the door swung open. Footsteps echoed down the very empty hall. Whoever was coming, was either very large or had very heavy boots. They rounded the corner and…

“C-Coran??” everyone stuttered out.

“They won’t be coming back anytime soon,” Coran assured, tossing a bubblegum colored ball in one of his hands and looking mighty proud of himself. He was wearing a ridiculous getup that made him look like the star of some old-western-slash-futuristic-cyberpunk themed movie. “This doohikey not only slightly alters one’s mind to temporarily forget what they’re doing, but it smells something awful, so no one’s going to come around here for a long while.”

“Oh, _great_ ,” Shiro deadpanned, making a face.

Curtis laughed. “At least now you’ll have an excuse to forget to go grocery shopping when you leave the house.”

“That was _one_ time!”

“It was _five_ times!”

Curtis laughed and eventually so did Shiro. Looking at them, Lance couldn’t help but smile. That was his future. Sure, Curtis and Shiro weren’t soulmates, but they’d found solace in each other, found _love_ in each other.

Lance and Keith _were_ Soulmates, and this time, when he thought about the fact that he and Keith would one day be married, it wasn’t quite as daunting, quite as terrifying as before. It was calming.

It was a _certainty_.

“Okay, so now that _that_ fuckery is over with, can we have a conversation?” Pidge asked, standing next to Lance and gently holding his arm. “Please?”

“Yeah,” Lance answered softly. “You’re all my family, and you deserve to understand what just happened…”

They end the night like that, as a family in Shiro’s living room. Keith holding onto his arm; Hunk on the other side of him; Pidge sitting across from him on the table; Coran perched on the couch’s armrest; Shiro standing behind Pidge with Curtis’ arms around his waist.

Keith kisses Lance’s forehead.

Yeah, Lance could definitely get used to this.

“Okay, so it’s a bit of a long story,” he began. “It started way back at the Garrison…”

“Ready?”

Keith fidgeted.

“Um…yes,” he said, not sounding very sure.

“It’ll be fine,” Lance laughed softly, kissing Keith’s cheek. “They love you already. Now, they’ll love you even more.”

“Okay…”

Lance turned into the long driveway. After a few minutes, a large farmhouse appeared. As it got bigger, people started pouring out of the front door.

“Ah, shit,” Keith mumbled, sliding down in his seat. “That’s a lot of people.”

“It’ll be fine,” Lance said again, taking Keith’s hand and bringing it to his wrist to kiss. “I’m not even sure why you’re the nervous one.”

After all, yesterday’s events were still, well, _trending_. Very loudly. Though most people seemed to be on the side that the newsman, who’s name was something like Richard Dung, had been completely in the wrong—he broadcasting personal information without anyone’s consent and been a completely dick shit about it! Lance had never been prouder of his fans or the general public.

“They’re your _family_ ,” Keith insisted. “Won’t they hate me for taking you away?”

Lance shook his head slightly. Keith was the former Black Paladin of Voltron, currently one of the top leaders in the Blade of Mamora, _and_ the greatest pilot of their generation…yet sometimes he could really be an idiot.

“Keith, you’re my family too! _And_ you’re their family. Did you think _mami_ was kidding when she said you’re one of us? Because she sure wasn’t, I promise you that!”

“Y-Yeah?” he asked, a little color returning to his face.

“Besides, it’s _my_ idea to join the Blades. You offered to stay here for me, remember?”

Keith hummed, still unable to tear his gaze away from the crowd. They were waiting for them at Lance’s unofficial car spot…which they were only a few seconds from.

“Hey. Keith. Baby.”

That got him to turn his head to finally look at Lance, eyes even wider than before.

“ _What_?” he croaked out.

Lance grinned, feeling happier than he’s felt in a very long, long time.

“It’s going to be okay. I love you, _Soulmate_.”

He parked the car. Just before the crowd of his family descended upon them, opening their doors and pulling them out of the car with tears and laughter and hugs and kisses, Keith smiled. His eyes shinning brightly.

“I love you too. Soulmate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did ya'll catch that the newsman guy was named _Richard Dung_?? Dick is a nickname for Richard and shit is another name for dung... Yeah, that's right bitches, I fucking called that loser a dick shit!! 'Cause that's what he is, for hurting poor bby boi Lance like that!
> 
> \--
> 
> I can't believe this is finally over...I never intended for my fic _all my love for the sweetness of his laughter // he is the tear that hangs in my soul forever_ to have one, let alone **two** sequels, but here we are!! Thank you all so, so much for the encouragement and kind words! Love you, mean it <333
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the final portion of this fic, including the small little epilogue that I decided didn't need to be made into it's own chapter. And no, I won't be adding anymore fics to this, I'm sorry to disappoint if you wanted to read about how Lance tells his family and their reactions...tbh it wouldn't be very much different than before? More shock and tears about Lance dying. Anger about him being outed like that on TV. Some confusion as to why he kept his Soul Status hidden from his family, but ultimately there'd be understanding. And they'd especially be understanding about Lance wanted to leave Earth for a while and travel the stars with Keith in the Blade after the shit that went down yesterday. So, yeah, that would basically be what happened :)
> 
> But! If you really like my writing, please check out my latest fic, which is a multi chapter fic, called [Galaxies Colliding in an Eternal Dance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21875686/chapters/52213603)!! It's about Lance traveling through different realities, trying to get back to his own, but unsure if he'll be able to because, well, he's convinced he's dying. (Because he _is_ dying.)
> 
> \--
> 
> ☕️come share a [ko-fi coffee](https://ko-fi.com/katerinariley0707) with me!
> 
> 💙to DM me, read my latest threads, &/or watch me obsess over my latest fixation(s) in real time, follow me [on twitter](https://twitter.com/KaterinaWritely)
> 
> \--
> 
> If you read & enjoyed my work, feel free to comment a ❤️ or a 😊 or even a ❗️❗️❗️ if you're unsure what to say. Thanks a bunches😘✨


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